‘THE DOCO THAT STAYED WITH ME’

Master doc­u­men­tary maker Louis Th­er­oux rarely keeps in touch with his sub­jects – only be­cause of the sheer num­bers of them amassed in al­most two decades mak­ing shows.

“I used to think that was some­thing I needed to do. And then as time has gone I have re­alised that is not part of the job nec­es­sar­ily. I don’t try to make it hap­pen, but some­times one just stays with you.

That was cer­tainly the case for Th­er­oux in the wake of his latest doc­u­men­tary on trans­gen­der kids.

“I was re­ally struck by how peo­ple re­sponded to it, and in that re­spect I’ve kept in touch with one or two of the con­trib­u­tors - the mother, Casey, of the five-year-old kid for­merly known as Se­bas­tian,” he says. “Casey came and vis­ited me in Lon­don. This show is one of the ones that has stayed with me more.”

The doc­u­men­tary caused waves when aired – as much for the youth of the sub­jects be­ing treated as for their abil­ity to ar­tic­u­late their emo­tions.

“The ground is shift­ing,” The­o­rux says . “Ten years ago the trans com­mu­nity was viewed as a bit comic, a bit of a punch­line. And I think we’re slightly in re­cov­ery from that view now.”